Europe News
Pope: Children are not their parents' property
Jan 11, 2009, 20:21 GMT
Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI, in a mass on Sunday in which he baptized 13 babies, said parents should not regard their offspring as a 'private property', but rather focus on providing them with a Christian upbringing.
The 81-year-old pontiff presided over the ceremony held in the Sistine Chapel and which commemorates Jesus' own baptism in the river Jordan by the prophet John the Baptist.
In his homily, Benedict said parents should also refrain from 'moulding (their children) on the basis of their own ideas and desires,' nor allow them the full liberty of fulfilling every wish and aspiration.
Benedict also defended baptism, the water ritual in which infants are introduced to Christianity.
Through baptism 'we are not harming (children), but gifting them the richness of divine life ... a freedom which needs to be educated and formed over the years so as to make personal choices possible and responsible,' Benedict said.
Later, during the traditional Sunday Angelus noon blessing to the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square, Benedict referred to the Roman Catholic Church's World Meeting of Families scheduled from January 13 to 18 in Mexico City.
Benedict will not be attending the event due to concerns that the Mexican capital's high altitude may be harmful for his health, but said Sunday he will follow proceedings in prayer and through a satellite video link.
COMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in Europe
- 1. Pope in Easter message calls for peace and religious tolerance
- 2. Magnificent Messi leads Barcelona to ninth straight win
- 3. Pope leads Easter vigil, calls for "true enlightenment"
- 4. Barcelona increase pressure on Real with romp in Zaragoza
- 5. Pope Benedict XVI leads Easter Vigil
Older Talkback
page: 1
Uhhhh...I guess those awful parents that have abused, maimed, or killed their children will no longer have power over them as well.
'Your children are not your property, they belong to me'
hiding within the Church. I don't trust them near my children.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Allegations of sexual abuse of children have been made against a variety of religious groups including but not exclusively Roman Catholic priests, monks, and nuns. Several major lawsuits were filed in 2001 alleging that priests had sexually abused minors.[1] Some priests resigned, others were defrocked or jailed,[2] and financial settlements totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars were made with many victims.[1]. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a comprehensive study that found that four percent of all priests who had served in the U.S. from 1950 to 2002 faced some sort of sexual accusation.[3][4] According to this report, common actions included touching adolescent males under their clothes and removal of clothing, but more serious acts were committed in many cases. The Church was widely criticized when it was discovered that some bishops knew about allegations and reassigned the accused instead of removing them,[1][5] although public school administrators engaged in a similar manner when dealing with accused teachers,[6]. Some bishops and psychiatrists noted that the prevailing psychology of the times suggested that people could be cured of such behavior through counseling.[5][7] Many of the abusive priests had received counseling before being reassigned.[4][8]
Contents [hide]
1 Church policies and attitudes
1.1 Order of silence in the 1960s
1.2 Legislation and media coverage
1.3 Recent Papal statements
2 Sexual abuse
2.1 John Jay Report
2.2 Ferns Report
3 Church actions
3.1 Abusers moved to different locations
3.2 Failure to report criminal acts to police
3.3 Allegations of systematic plots to conceal evidence
3.4 Payments to victims
4 Implications of the accusations
4.1 Seminary training
4.2 Declining standards explanation
4.3 Supply and demand explanation
4.4 Celibacy explanation
4.4.1 Advocacy for mandatory celibacy
4.5 Other Catholic teachings, practices
5 Abuse by priests in Catholic Orders
6 Catholic leadership resignations
7 Church actions in dealing with sex abuse cases
7.1 Apology and meeting with victims
7.2 Compensation payouts
7.3 Prevention
8 Bankruptcy
8.1 Government solution in Ireland
9 Continued allegations
10 Abuse in literature and film
11 See also
12 References
13 Additional reading
14 External links
14.1 General
14.2 Ireland
14.3 United States
page: 1
SP4: Uh...HolinessJan 11th, 2009 - 20:30:03
...after the debacle in the United States, the power you have exerted over the upbringing of children in the past will never occur again.
Report this comment